We've all heard the jokes and seen the Memes about Midwest weather - some of our favorites: don't like the temps, wait 15 minutes; or I dressed for spring this morning, summer at lunch, but came home to winter. This February has been a particularly brutal reminder of the mercurial nature of winter in Missouri. From temperatures near 70 degrees to single digits, we've seen it all. But that hasn't stopped our City departments from serving our community.
This freeze-thaw cycle is particularly brutal for our Municipal Services Street Maintenance crews. We've had two winter storms with snow and ice so far in February (and there more may be in the works later this week). Here's a look at the numbers for the Feb. 17 storm:
- 260 tons of salt were used. This is the total weight of nine humpback whales.
- Crews traveled 3,000 miles, or father than driving from New York to Los Angeles.
- 55 crew members from multiple departments worked more than 760 hours. Enough time to make five trips to the moon and back.
Crews will continue filling potholes as storms allow. If you have a pothole in your area, please call (816) 325-7624, report it via the IndepNow app, or online at indep.us/indepnow.
Council Overview
Please find below an overview of some of the key items discussed and voted on during the Feb. 22 City Council Meeting. You can watch this meeting here.
Engineers Week
The Mayor declared the week of Feb. 21st as Engineers Week. We will be sharing posts about the many engineers working for our community on the City's social media pages this week. You can read the full proclamation here.
A new chapter for Young School
The Council approved the rezoning of the former Young School, named for Hiram Young. Mr. Young was a former slave who became one of the richest men in Jackson County building wagons for westward travelers. The Young School has been vacant for many years. The Truman Heritage Habitat for Humanity began work to restore the school as a location to provide a home ownership education center and office space for the organization. You can read more about this project here.
Heritage Commission update
The Council approved an ordinance to follow recent federal ethics policy changes mandating that all federal employees who serve on local boards and commissions are prohibited from unduly influencing local policy decisions. This mandate effectively removed all voting power from the ex-officio members serving on the Heritage Commission.
The Heritage Commission consists of nine members of the community who live and/or work in Independence. Seven of these members are appointed by the City Council. The two remaining members are federal employees and ex-officio representatives from the Truman Presidential Library and Museum and the National Park Service’s Harry S Truman National Historic Site.
In order to be consistent with this federal policy, city staff has initiated a change in the verbiage of the City Code Chapter 1, Article 30.1.003 regarding the role of ex-officio members. This change would henceforth refer to the two ex-officio members as advisory members, reflecting the removal of their ability to vote.
You can read more about this item here.
Wage enforcement updates
The Council approved an ordinance to adopt regulations to help assure that City incentives support development that complies with local, state, and federal wage and payroll laws, thereby ensuring that workers receive proper compensation for their work. Where there are potential violations of those local, state, and federal wage and payroll laws on City-supported developments, these regulations would obligate any parties involved in the development who know about the violations to report them.
These regulations would also require notice to parties receiving incentives from the City that if they or their contractors or subcontractors violate wage or payroll laws, the City would seek to recoup its investment to the extent allowed by law.
As an independent office that reports directly to the City Council, the City's Management Analyst would have primary responsibility for the investigation, recordkeeping, and enforcement of these regulations; however, if the Management Analyst position is vacant, then all roles, responsibilities, and duties outlined in the these regulations would be assigned to the City Manager’s office. You can read this ordinance here.
Please find the latest COVID-19 Report here.
You can find the full agenda, including links to the items above and other items discussed here.
The Council will next meet on February 28, 2022, for a Council Study Session.
COVID-19 vaccines available for anyone five and older
While COVID-19 cases in our area are now down to a 16 percent two week average, this is still well above the five percent believed to show cases are under control in an area. Vaccines are highly recommended for everyone that is eligible, including second and booster dose for those that are eligible.
Everyone 5 and older is now eligible to receive a vaccine, and those 12 and older are eligible to receive booster doses (based on the original vaccine received).
The Independence Health and Animal Services Department continues to regularly add new public vaccination clinics for everyone 5 and older. This week a clinic will take place on Thursday, Feb. 24, at the Independence Uptown Market from 5 - 7 p.m. You can find additional clinics and information as it becomes available at indep.us/vaccines.
Independence News Room
Find the latest Independence Press Releases, Newsletters, Videos, and more at indep.us/newsroom. Register to receive press releases, CityScenes or meeting agendas at indep.us/communicationssignup.
Follow the City on our social media pages:
- Facebook -facebook.com/CityofIndependence
- Twitter - @CityOfIndepMO
- Instagram - @cityofindependencemo
- Nextdoor - indep.us/nextdoor
- YouTube - indep.us/youtube
Find upcoming meetings, programs and events
Looking for upcoming public meetings and events? Visit indep.us/calendar to what is coming up next.
Request? Complaint? Concern? Report it via IndepNow
Report an issue or concern regarding codes, trash, streets or other city services via the IndepNow app or online at indep.us/actioncenter. Click the button above the get started now.
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City of Independence